The invention relates to a cover feeder for supplying book covers to a production unit in a book completion line, comprising a first receiving device for book covers of a single format, deposited either individually, in an overlapping flow and/or in a stack, a laterally adjustable centering device arranged on the first receiving device which is laterally displaceable for a defined feeding from the side of individual, overlapping and/or stacked book covers, corresponding to a centering required for the production unit of the book completion line, a cover magazine with a stacking chute arranged downstream of the first receiving device, and a first separating out unit for withdrawing the lowest book cover from the stacking chute and for supplying the withdrawn book cover to the production unit of the book completion line. In addition, the invention relates to a corresponding method for supplying the book covers.
Known book completion lines successively combine at clocked intervals respectively one book block and one book cover. For this, the book blocks and the book covers are normally produced in separate machines. The book block is subjected in individual processing stations to various processing steps, for example rounding, pressing, applying of glue to the back and the application of a headband. Separate therefrom, the book cover generally moves through a cover bending device before a so-called marriage takes place in a downstream-arranged casing-in machine, meaning a joining of the book block and the book cover.
Generally speaking, medium to large editions of books are processed in conventional book completion lines of this type. The same number of identical book covers are thus supplied to match a series of identical book blocks. It is therefore not necessary to watch the sequence because one book is combined in the same way as the other ones with this type of edition. The book covers in this case are supplied while stacked, in part also overlapping, on a cover magazine, wherein the stack is composed of book covers with the same format, meaning the same dimensions.
European patent document EP2386507 A1 describes a cover feeder as described in the above for supplying book covers to a production unit of a book completion line, embodied as a casing-in machine, in which the so-called marriage of book block and book cover takes place, meaning the joining to form a book.
This cover feeder comprises a receiving device for book covers with a side guiding device, arranged on its drive side, and a downstream-arranged cover magazine with a stacking chute, as well as an adjacent separating out device. In contrast to traditional cover feeders, which contain only a single stack of book covers of the same format on the receiving device, a first stack of book covers having a first format and a second stack with book covers having a second format, which deviates from the first format, can be provided on this book cover feeder for processing small editions with only a few books. Accordingly, two stacks of book covers with respectively different format can be processed sequentially, wherein the format change from the first stack available in production direction to the next stack occurs automatically. In the extreme case of a micro-edition, e.g. when producing a photo album or single book, such a stack consists of a single book cover. The book cover as well as the associated book block therefore are unique, which respectively requires a clear identification.
In the field of modern industrial book binding, orders for small editions and micro-editions frequently alternate. With an increasing share of micro-editions, however, it becomes uneconomical to place a number of book covers with differing formats successively onto the cover feeder while stacks of identical book covers are placed on for small editions.